Happy New Year!

Happy New Year, dear readers.  I hope 2010 is a wonderful year for you and your families!

As for me, 2010 is the year we’re getting married!!   I can’t wait.

Here’s to fabulous new year!

(Source)

Hair Trial Number One!

Honestly, I haven’t thought much about my wedding day hairstyle yet.  I have plenty of time to decide, so I am not too worried about it at all.  That being said, when my friend and bridesmaid KDoc offered to come over and play with my hair the week before Christmas, I was stoked!  Although she is not a professional stylist, she might as well be—she is so awesome at doing people’s hair and makeup and has done this type of thing for many brides she knows.  It was quite fun:

(Yes, we were rockin’ the Squirt during the process.  It’s cool.)

We hadn’t talked much about style before this, as I just wanted to see what her ideas might be.  I had mentioned the idea of a low side bun, so she rolled with it.  This is what we came up with:

Before (Please excuse my no-makeup face!)…

and After:

Front

Back

Side View  with the bun (Lame face, Amy!)

Overall, I really liked this style—it was a bit curlier than I had imagined, but I LOVED the way it looked in the back.  I think it would work really well with my dress too!  I think that I like styles that are a bit sleeker, though, and since we have a lot of time to play, KDoc said she would definitely roll with some other ideas as well!  I think we might work on this style a little bit, and make it a little more this:

(Source)
A little cleaner on the front and sides but still romantic-looking. 

I also ADORE these styles (as seen on Mrs. Cowboy Boot from Weddingbee)  and would like to try them as well:

 

 
The “Low Centered Chignon”

 

The “Low Side Bun”

(Source for above four photos)

Finally, I’d love to try something really dramatic too…something along the lines of this:

 
(Source)

Ironically, I just got a set of Bump-Its (don’t hate, they’re fun!) for Christmas as a funny gift from my mom—I could totally use those here, I bet! 

As you can see, I tend to go more for smooth, sleek styles—I think they make a good contrast with my dress…but I also love how the curly, romantic style we came up with could look with the dress too.  Remember how dress shopping went though—I favored one thing but ended up with another, so maybe that’s my hair destiny as well.  Now I ask you:  what do you think?  Sleek and smooth or curly and romantic?

How did you decide on a hair style for YOUR wedding?

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas, dear readers.  I hope this holiday season is joyful for you and your families!

This is my last Christmas as a single gal, and I have to say, I am looking forward to being husband and wife by this time next year!

Enjoy the holidays, dear friends!

(Picture of the Christmas tree at Macy’s Chicago store.  Photo by me!)

Real Wedding Recap: Nikki & JT

This past weekend, my college friend Nikki and her wonderful fiance JT finally got hitched!  It was great to spend a few days celebrating their love with them.  From the rehearsal dinner at a local bar (where the couple first met!) to their elegant hotel ballroom reception, it was a blast to celebrate their love and support them as they embark on their new life as husband and wife.  Here’s a few pics to recap the wonderful event:

The Bride’s Beautiful Dress

  The ceremony
The couple had a really beautiful ceremony, with many interesting components.  Among my favorite was the wine box ceremony, in which the couple placed a bottle of wine, two glasses, and love letters to each other in a box, which was then sealed.  The point is not to open the box until their marriage is in crisis—if it is, then they are to open the box, share the wine, and read the love letters they wrote to each other on their wedding day.  Hopefully, they will never have to open the box—except in celebration, which they are to do when they reach their 10 year wedding anniversary.  If they haven’t opened the box by then, they are to open it at that time to celebrate!

   Exchanging vows

 

The beautiful bride

 

Wedding Cake

 
Groom’s Cake
The bride and groom are both huge music lovers, and this was meant to be a celebration of all of the concerts they have attended together over the years.  The smiley face on the left side of the cake is the symbol for Summerfest, a local music festival here in Milwaukee, and the exit sign is for Exit 33, which is the highway exit for Alpine Valley Music Theater.  Pretty neat, no?

 

  Centerpieces
Unfortunately I wasn’t able to snap a great pic of them, but at least you get the idea.  They were cylindrical vases filled with gold, silver, and white Christmas ornaments.  Placed  atop a mirror and adorned with pine, they were perfect for a winter wedding! 

Since I was running around playing coordinator, I wasn’t able to get too many great wedding detail shots…but at least you get the idea!  It was a really fun wedding and I couldn’t be happier for the couple.

Congratulations Nikki & JT—thank you for allowing us to be part of your day!

A Quick & Easy DIY

This past weekend I, along with two other friends, was a personal attendant* in the wedding of an old college friend.  Among our various duties as attendants  was decorating the newlywed’s room as a surprise for them.

We did rose petals in the shape of a heart on the bed, had champagne chilling, a cheese and sausage platter for them to eat, and various chocolates for them to enjoy.  As a quick and easy added touch, I made a sign for the door and a few signs to put around the room.  It was a quick and easy project I whipped out that afternoon and it made a great touch on the room!

Without further ado:

I created this sign to hang on the outside of their hotel room door.  The fonts are Copperplate Gothic Light for the print and Chopin for the script.

A Close-Up

Then, I created a sign for them to tell them who decorated the room (using our nicknames, of course):

And a sign to remind them to get some food in their tummies after a long night of partying with friends and family:

All of the signs were printed on regular computer paper, then mounted on yellow cardstock, which was then mounted on navy cardstock.  I mounted the door sign on some thin cardboard we had laying around my office, then taped the ribbon to the back.  Then I mounted navy cardstock on another piece of cardboard and mounted that on the back side of the sign, so it was a pretty package in front AND in back.

The door sign (and the other signs!) was a quick and easy project that made a lot of impact.  You can bet I’ll be repeating this for our wedding!  (And the weddings of friends to come!) [side note:  I guess this point needs clarification.  I will not be repeating the room decorating for ourselves but I will be creating similar signs for our out-of-town guests to put in their OOT bags, and I may make a sign for our wedding night room as well!]

Up next this week: a real wedding recap (the wedding discussed here!) and my first hair trial!

*Never heard of a personal attendant?  It’s basically a day-of coordinator.  We helped usher guests, find placecards, pin on bouts and corsages, wrangled the flower children, fixed the bride’s bustle when needed, handled the seating chart when some placecards went missing, decorated their room, took care of the gifts and cards, and handled any other wedding day crises for the bride and groom.

Bridesmaid Dress-A-Palooza!

Or, the post in which I show you a lot of pictures of bridesmaid dresses I like!

My maids and I have not gone shopping for their dresses yet, but it is high on my list of priorities for the new year.  As with wedding dress shopping, I am definitely going to go in with an open mind.  I am hoping to have a majority of the girls with me, and they’ll be allowed to try on everything and anything they might like.  That being said, one of the only guidelines I’ll be giving them is in regards to cost.   I just can’t justify having the girls spend an outrageous amount of money on a dress that in all likelihood, they will only wear once.  Sure, some dresses are re-wearable, but honestly, no one ever does.  As a bride, I definitely get it—weddings are expensive to be in.  I’ve been in plenty and I can’t wait to be in some more, but I know how it goes.  So, I’d like to keep the cost around $150 or less, especially since I want the girls to have matching shoes too (which will be another expense for them). 

Our wedding is going to be classic.  As in, classically elegant (read: fancy).  I’ve always thought that for a more formal affair, the bridesmaids would wear long dresses.  Keep in mind our color scheme, and picture the following dresses in a soft gold color:

Belsoie By Jasmine

 

 
DaVinci

 

 
Mia Solano

 

 
Raylia Designs
(side note: this style is front runner for me right now—I love the neckline!)

 

 
Watters & Watters
(another side note:  this is sort of the color gold I am thinking of…a bit deeper than champagne because my dress is sort of champagne-y colored)

(Source for all of the above photos)

These are just a few of the long dresses I am drawn to.  As you can see, I like them long and plain, and not necessarily strapless!  Of course, I said that about my wedding dress, too, and look how that turned out!   Regardless, I want the girls to feel fabulous and pretty in their dresses, so I think I’ve chosen some nice body-conscious styles here.  This leads me to the second guideline I’ll be giving them—no puffy ballgowns, please.  My dress isn’t  a puffy ballgown, so I don’t think it would look appropriate if the bridesmaids had a floofier dress than me (sorry K Doc, I know you love those princess dresses!  🙂 ). 

I used to think that only long dresses could be formal enough for a black tie wedding, but I am re-thinking that now.  I mean, look at these lovelies:

 J. Crew (Erica)

(The same dress as above, but in gold)

 J. Crew (Lorelei)

Both of those dresses, especially the second one, could certainly be appropriate for a formal event.  I think it all depends on the fabric you choose and how you glam the dresses up with jewelry and the like. 

Either way, it is exciting to be moving forward in the planning!  We are past the 300 day mark, so things will really start picking up once the holidays are over.  I am keeping my goal in mind and hoping to have most things wrapped up by summer! 

Did you set guidelines for your bridesmaids?  How was the bridesmaid dress shopping experience?

The Fab Blogger Award

A long time ago (err…a month ago, already.  Sorry Em!), Em over at Burning River Bride awarded me the Fabulous Blogger Award.  Once again, I have to say how honored I am and I must echo Em’s sentiments on the wedding blogger community.   Everyone is so nice and supportive and it’s wonderful to be part of a community of people who aren’t full of snark!

The terms of this award designate that I need to write 5 things I am obsessed with.  Currently, they are:

1) Daniel Silva novels.  He is SO good.  I am re-reading from the beginning his series about Israeli Spy Gabriel Allon.  If you like thrillers, you will love these books!

2) Glee.  Hello, new favorite show! 

3) Google Reader.  It has seriously changed the way I surf the Internet.  I have about 65 blogs that I read regularly and Google Reader has totally helped me to streamline the process.  If you don’t use Reader yet, go start using it RIGHT NOW!

4) Weddingbee.  I love love love love LOVE the site and read it several times a day.  So often, in fact, that I am usually all caught up with the blog posts and waiting on the edge of my seat for the next one to post.  If that’s the case, I’ll peruse the forums, commenting occasionally but mostly reading.  What an awesome community!

5) Christmas!  I love love love love LOVE this time of year.   Here’s a peak at our FOUR Christmas trees (keep in mind we live in a preeeeety small apartment):

     

    

So thanks again, Em, for the nice award.  I think you’re pretty darn fabulous too!

And now some bloggers who are also fabulous:

My sister
Sara
Sai (sadly, she is taking a break from blogging.  I will miss you, Sai!)
My girl Sabrina
My girl Chandra

Exciting News!

I have so many things I want to blog about this week and just not enough time to blog them…but first I want to share some exciting news I found out on Friday night. 

One of my very best friends in the whole wide world got engaged!

I am so excited and thrilled for Bridesmaid B and her man Trav.  They have only been dating for about 11 months but they are truly perfect for each other.  After meeting Trav and seeing their interactions early on, I knew even way back then that they would end up getting married, and now the ball is finally rolling!

We met up with them for dinner on Friday night and they had JUST gotten engaged an hour beforehand.  I immediately started crying at the dinner table, I was so happy!  I am beyond thrilled for them and can’t wait to share more of the wedding planning experience with one of my very best gals. 

Congratulations, B & Trav.  Dr. Groomy and I love you both and are so happy that you will be joining “The Old Marrieds Club” with us! 

Coming up on the blog: Mini-moon and Honeymoon discussions, Bridesmaid Dress thoughts, and a fun Hair Trial!  Stay tuned! 

On Staying Stress Free

This is going to sound like Psycho Bride Behavior, but I find that if I take a break—no matter how much it is needed—from planning, thinking, reading, or talking about our wedding and weddings in general, I wake up one day and start to freak.  For example:   This past week, with Thanksgiving and other activities in the forefront of my mind, I didn’t really spend a lot of time on weddings.  The wedding related sites on my Google Reader backed up and I didn’t look at a bridal magazine or even flip through our binder/my blog.  Yesterday, I suddenly had a mini panic attack that we were behind in planning again (which, of course, I know we aren’t, but we’re talking Deluded Bridal Brain here, people).

I have been relatively stress-free during the planning process thus far.  Now, I am not so disillusioned to think that I will not be stressed out AT ALL as the wedding gets closer, but I would like to try to remain as stress-free as possible!  Mrs. Star recently posted that she had a lot of free time during her wedding week—and this is the goal I’ve set for myself.  I would LOVE to have everything done except for fun things (like mani-pedis & dress pick-up!) prior to Wedding Week. 

But back to the example at hand:  what I do when I suddenly feel stressed out.  I find that being proactive is MUCH better than dwelling on things.  I almost always feel better when I am taking action on an issue, rather than worrying about it.  So yesterday when I had my mini panic attack, I did what I always do when I feel that way about the wedding:  I whipped out our handy-dandy wedding checklist. 

Seriously, gals, take my advice—keep a copy of this with your wedding binder AND carry a copy in your purse.  When it’s time to check something off, update both lists so they’re always current.  I find that carrying a copy of our checklist in my purse is helpful simply because I can take one look at it and know where we’re at—without lugging my big heavy wedding binder around all day every day.  This is especially helpful on a day like yesterday—I was able to pull out my checklist and take a look at what I could work on next.  Then I came up with a quick action plan that would make me feel like I was accomplishing things again.  It helped to calm me down and get my wedding-creative-juices flowing again!  I feel once again in control and I know what needs to be worked on next (ahem, baker and florist research).

So that’s my tip for helping stop stress in its tracks:  be proactive about the situation and you’ll almost always feel better!  Now it’s your turn:  what are your best tips for staying stress-free throughout the wedding planning process?

The Shoe Saga, Continued

Yes, my friends, it has turned into a saga.  Where did we last leave off?  Ah yes, I was anxiously awaiting the arrival of my Heavenly Heelz, to see if they would help with sizing.  At last, they arrived…and if you follow me on Twitter, you know the moral of this story:

They helped a bit, but not quite enough. 

Le sigh.

I think if I used TWO sets of Heavenly Heelz in each shoe, they would be a good fit…but there would still be a gap in the back. 

You see, the Heavenly Heelz do help keep your foot in the shoe and help the shoe to fit nicely to your foot, but they don’t magically erase any gaps caused by sizing, if you get my drift.  And this really bothers me.  I feel like people will look at my shoes and say, “Those don’t fit!”  I’m not sure why I care what others will think.  I think it’s because the  shoes were really expensive for me and I am embarrassed that I spent so much money on an item that doesn’t fit me right.  Regardless, this shoe saga has left me with two important lessons:

1) Always order shoes in the size you know.  Go with your gut, even if the product reviews say otherwise.  I ordered these shoes a half size up because that seemed to be the general consensus on Zappos’ site.  Wrong.  A size 8, I have decided now, would fit me just perfectly. 

2) Regardless, I AM WEARING THESE SHOES!  I just have to.  Seriously, I love them and I cannot imagine wearing any other shoes.  Yes, I feel a bit stupid for having an expensive pair of shoes that don’t fit quite correctly, but if I have to, I’ll get over that. 

With that being said, I am currently in a state of shoe limbo.  Zappos has a fabulous 365 day return policy.  The shoes are currently packaged up and sitting in their box in our room.   If necessary, I can always return them before the wedding.  Until then, I am stalking the Zappos site to see if any 8s will come up.  If they do, I will immediately make an exchange…no harm, no foul!  I am pretty sure there is a good chance this will happen, so for now, I just have to be patient.

Bonus:  Zappos is having a huge holiday sale and the Pomposo shoes are currently only available in sizes 4, 7, 10, and 11.  Since I know how popular these shoes are, I am betting that shortly after the new year they will have a bunch more in stock and I can make my exchange! 

Keep your fingers crossed for me…

Do you have a shoe saga (or a dress saga, or a veil saga, or…)?  Share your stories with me!